2012....Where did it go?

Here it is.... It has been a long time coming!
As many of you may recall. Last January I made several resolutions. I accomplished many and continue to work on the rest. I refuse to pick them apart. I will work on me this year. That is all I can truly work on. My day to day actions and everything else will follow. Instead of silly resolutions, I decided to put up some pictures of my fantastic year.

January....



Shopping , they loved sitting in the basket together, despite the look on Athan's face.



February.....

Calvin crawled before he got any teeth. He crawled in our new house on Bonita. We said goodbye to our rental of over 4 years. The boys are still sad that they no longer live next to the Whaley's. 5 adorable little girls that became a part of their every day lives.



Athan's 6th birthday, before school



Student of the month

House on Corral

March.....

What a CRAZY month! Started out with moving, then I took a quick trip to Virginia with Mom and Calvin to get some very much needed sister time! Only to come home to a Daddy with a subdural hematoma. Poor daddy! He helped Colt with Damen and Athan and even picked Mom and me up at the airport! All the while, his head pounding because of the bleed. Dad spent a week a St. Joes after having a very scary hematoma evacuation. I made several trips to the hospital to see him, that's what I do!



In Mike's military heli hanger,
sitting  in a HUGE helicopter!



Virginia Beach

Calvin loving the wind from the ocean

April....

Baby Cora



Damen had a field trip to the Goat farm in Strawberry. He INSISTED that he needed full cowboy attire. Athan follows:)



We adopted Cora from on of Mom's litters. She has a personality all her own. She snuggles Athan at night which is nice because he missed Baby doing that. We got a little more comfortable in our new home... OK too comfortable... began to feel the walls cave in. TOO SMALL!

May....

Athan graduated Kindergarten and Calvin turned 1! Calvin finally got one tooth!

Kindergarten Promotion

June...
This was kind of Athan's month. We had a bit of a psychiatric awakening with our little guy when one of his "tantrums" turned into self inflicted violence. We know that we have a long road ahead of us but, we are in it for the long haul. We eliminated wheat and greatly restricted dairy in his diet and HOLY COW! What a different child he can be. We still have days where we have to fight with him (verbally and sometimes physically) but.. it's all looking up. He is as sweet as ever and if he knew that I made his issues public he would be heart broken. He is a tender heart. He dislikes himself when he loses control. We are working on it.


Athan has fallen asleep in the shower a few times. Weird!




July...

Kids went back to school. This is not a happy day for me. As crazy as those kids drive me on a regular basis, I miss them so very much when they are in school. I love love love them and their little attitudes!

First day of first (Athan) and third (Damen and Gwen)

HEHE

Damen's 8th

August...

I randomly had started filling out applications around the valley in late July. My way of playing the game of fate. I filled out 6 apps all across the area from Queen creek to Deer Valley. I got a call in early August (my only application response) from my most favored hospital John C. Lincoln. They wanted to interview me for a place in their CCU (Critical Care Unit). It is an ICU that also recovers open-heart surgery patients. I went, I interviewed, They wanted me! I accepted to position and the start date early in September.

Later that month, our poor Buddy was hit by a car in front of our house and I took him to be put down. We buried him at "Grandma's house" next to Bingo. :( sad, sad family.

Saying Good Bye to Buddy the cat:(

Boys randomly deciding to watch
the sunset



Athan took a little bit extra
 time at Buddy's Grave

Damen earning his yellow belt!

September...

This is the month I said good bye to my job at PRMC. I was ready for growth with my nursing career beyond what the small town hospital could offer me.

I started my new and improved job at JCL Deer Valley in the Critical Care Unit. This means that for the month of September, I was driving back and forth to work 1 hour and 45 minutes 3 or 4 days a week. AND PACKING TO MOVE AGAIN! No pictures this month!

October...

New house! Our first time living in a house that actually fits all of us. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms.  Andy moved into the house that we are "buying" in Payson which is perfect for his family of 3. I searched and decided on a charter school for the boys called Adams Traditional Academy. Class sizes were a little smaller than the public schools and the school's motto revolved around parental involvement. The boy's had to adjust to the whole uniform idea. Handsome!
Colt started flaring with his Crohns shortly after our move. Never ever something any of us are prepared to deal with but... we are too blessed to complain.

Colt cut off the tip of his finger while
chopping an onion. Ew.

Athan's own room

Zombie and Military dude.....dumb

Cutest monkey ever!

Boy's starting a new Quarter at a new school Adams Traditional
Academy. 

It was as good as I could do. You can kinda see them all in there.

Loosing teeth all the time

November....

Visit from family! The Greenstreets and Hillary came to Arizona! We spent some much needed time as a whole family and I loved every minute of it. I feel like I have a special bond to each one of my individual sisters. It is truly great!

YAY for sister time!!!!

After hiking natural bridge with the Greenstreets and Hillary

December.....

ahhhh, Christmas month. The month that I get to threaten my boy's with he good ol naughty list. I think this might be Santa's last year for the big boys. WAY too many questions this year for believers.

The REAL Santa!

Calvin and Aunt Heather



Christmas day family photo. Damen and Colt look so good in this picture. That's about all....